Transcript

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>> With consumer complaints and lawsuits mounting over its practice of slowing down some older iPhone models, Apple is making some big changes to how it handles batteries. I'm Steven Nellis with Reuters News here in San Francisco. Last week, Apple admitted that it purposely slows down some older iPhones that have problem batteries.

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The company says that it does this to prevent those phones from suddenly shutting themselves off to protect the delicate electronics inside. But many consumers took it as evidence of what they had long suspected, that Apple slows down older phones in order to try to get people to buy a newer phone.

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Now, no evidence has ever emerged that Apple does anything like that but this battery issue did feed the suspicious among people. But on Thursday, Apple came out and said, we apologize, we hear you, we understand that you're frustrated. The company says that it's now going to offer to swap out older batteries out of warranty for $29 instead of $79.

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And then it's going to add a new software feature that will let people see if their battery is having a problem that's leading to slower performance. But this comes at a time when Apple is asking for people to pay more than ever, almost $1,000, for its top flagship iPhone model, the iPhone 10.

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The company wants to prove that its phones are high quality and durable, and worth the extra cost over the competitors that it's asking for.